South Estonia day trip

On Saturday we rented a car for the day and headed out into the countryside of south-eastern Estonia. The brilliant sunny weather continued and we had the chance to see a variety of aspects of rural life. Our first stop was at Rouge, about an hour's drive south of Tartu, and reputed to be one of the most picturesque villages in Estonia. It is situated in the only (relatively) hilly part of the country: the highest mountain in the Baltics -- over 300 meters! -- is only a few miles away, and in the background of the picture below is the deepest lake in Estonia.



Perched on the hill overlooking the village was a picturesque church, parts of which date back to the 18th century.


After lunch in the nearby town of Voru, we spent the afternoon meandering back towards Tartu, taking in various churches and manor houses on the way. Manor houses are something of an Estonian speciality. They mainly date from the 18th and 19th centuries, during which time they housed members of the ruling German aristocracy. Several hundred have survived intact and a few are open to the general public. But not in March, which -- current weather notwithstanding -- is still definitely 'out of season' as far as tourism is concerned. Our favorite manor house was at Rapina. We did manage to get inside this one because it houses an art school.



Our final stop of the day was at the church in Vonnu, situated next to one of the rivers that empties into Lake Peipsei, a body of water several hundred miles long that forms the border between Estonia and Russia.




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Someone Special?

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Twins' Arrival

We were excited to hear the news on Tuesday that Chloe has two new first cousins! Lucy and Christopher were born a minute apart, around noon English time. Chloe has been on record for several months now predicting that in Auntie Tash's tummy were "one pink one and one blue one." Her track record on gender prediction had been poor up to this point (she incorrectly predicted that our neighbor across the street in Swarthmore was going to have "a baby who's called 'sister' ", and she decided prior to us finding out that her forthcoming sibling would be a boy), so we were happy to see from the above picture that Chloe was certainly right this time!

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Swinging with Pop Pop

Chloe is enjoying her second grandparental visit in a month. Since Pop Pop's visit has coincided with warm, spring-like, sunny weather here in Tartu, we have started exploring the previously snow-covered playgrounds. One of Chloe's favorite bits is the corkscrew slide, really for older children, but once I help her up the various ladders and walkways she is happy to shoot down it on her own ... .



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Its 'EE'

The Estonian for 'Estonian' is 'Eesti'. What about the web country code for Estonia? -- its 'ee'. And that is 'Eesti' backwards ...! This is all by way of preamble to an insight I had recently about why the Estonian language is so difficult. It turns out that a lot of Estonian words contain English words written backwards. For example, consider the sign on the shop just around the corner from our apartment;


Here you can see, in succession, the English words "dank", "desk", and "dirt", each reversed and placed at the end to hide what's going on ...! There are plenty of other examples I could point to in support of this theory, but the clincher for us is the jar (which, incidentally, contains mustard) pictured at the top of this post.

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Top Ten List(s)

                    TOP TEN THINGS I'LL MISS ABOUT TARTU
                                    (when I leave in a few weeks)

10. Chloe's school. (Above, a recent music lesson.) What it offers is perfect for her at this moment, and she is thriving there.
9. Kalev dark chocolate with cherries. Tender, delicious... a guilty pleasure hidden in my healthy pregnancy trail mix!
8. The variety of inexpensive muesli-type breakfast cereals. I wasn't a big muesli fan before coming here. Cold milk over cold grains... nah. Now I know how good it can get! Sweetened dried coconut, cashews, granola -- you can even get different kinds chocolate muesli, including one with chocolate granola and creamy white chocolate chunks that makes you feel like you just ate some mousse.
7. Some features of our kitchen design, like a convenient counter for cooking that can also be reached from the eating area -- and which Chloe can reach by standing on a chair -- and a hot, efficient oven that is an easy height to look into.
6. How affordable everything is. And that taxi drivers don't expect tips.
5. The Tartu Toy Museum Playspace. An airy, attractively designed wooden loft with arts and craft tables, a reading area with a comfy couch -- even if the books are in Estonian -- toys, blocks, trains, puppets, games, costumes, etc. Chloe has limitless fun here, as at Rüütli. (At right, she examines a jigsaw puzzle of Estonia in the museum itself, outside the play area.) I would have made it a tie with the Rüütli space (#4), but to get to this one you have to go through the real museum and up some stairs -- points off for making it more difficult to remove a recalcitrant toddler when it's time to go, especially when one is weighty with child.
4. The Rüütli Playspace. Ground floor only! Play kitchen and table set (high-quality, Scandinavian-style wood); indoor slides; Legos of all sizes (including shoebox-sized); a place to frolic amidst plastic balls; huge foam/vinyl blocks; hula hoops; countless tiny toys; a zillion high-quality jigsaw puzzles and memory games -- Ravensburger puzzle and game company, I love you! Clean carpet with warmed floors underneath. Drop-off afternoon babysitting in this child heaven at $3/hour. (No, that is not a typo!)
3. Having adjacent toddler playspaces conveniently available in places you need to drag your kid to, like cafeterias, cafés, and department stores.
2. Our bathroom. Cozy heated floors, attractive tiled walls, excellent shower, sunken bath, sauna. Its warmth makes it the best room for yoga! I read books to Chloe while she's in the bath; Chloe chats to us while we're bathing/dressing. Alan has tried the sauna twice so far and is a convert to its charms. (Google "Finnish sauna" for interesting information.) We have spent many quality family hours in this bathroom!
1. Alan, during the five weeks we'll be on separate continents.

     TOP FIVE THINGS I WON'T MISS ABOUT TARTU
5. How our dishwasher always blows a fuse in the middle of a wash cycle.
4. How extremely costly it is to call the US, and even the UK. Skype, here we come! (Now we know why it was invented in Estonia.)
3. Pushing a stroller through ice and slush. Try doing this while pregnant.
2. The February cold, for worsening children's risk of ear infection.
1. The February cold, just because it's cold.

     TOP FIVE THINGS I MISS ABOUT SWARTHMORE
5. That people speak a language I understand. Usually.
4. Grape Nuts. Yes, I constantly eat cereal. Cut me some slack, I'm pregnant! Corn Flakes are good, but give me Grape Nuts any day for a serious crunch and a nutritional whallop.
3. Access to English-language academic journals and fast, free interlibrary loan. OK, so I happen to be working on a book.
2. The "Wiggle Library," our family name for a nearby public library due to its excellent toddler story-and-song time.
1. My own bed.

                         - sac

School Run

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, I stroll Chloe across central Tartu to get to her school by 8.00 am or so. Its a pleasant walk through the heart of the old part of town. After crossing the main pedestrian bridge we walk across the Central Square (see above) and then turn the corner and go past the University Main Building;


This is known to all Estonian because it appears on the back of the 2 Kroon banknote (worth about 20 U.S. cents, or 10 pence).


The last part of the walk takes us up and around the central (and only) hill in Tartu, and site of the original medieval castle that formed the core of the first settlement here. Once I've dropped Chloe off I head back down the hill to my "office in Estonia" (as Chloe refers to it), located a couple of hundred yards from the Main Building pictured above. Incidentally, the building in the foreground of the photo on the left dates from the late 18th century, and it is where I give my Wednesday lectures.

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